Dandelion Gallery-- Waukegan

Link to photos (sorry! they weren't uploading to the blog):

http://www.dandeliongallery.org/gallery.html

Since I live too far out from Chicago to come down any time during the week, I choose the Dandelion Gallery, a relatively close gallery in Waukegan. The gallery itself is located in the growing Waukegan Art District, the gallery stating that it's goals are to "revive, recharge, and reinvigorate the downtown area through exposition of fine art, music, and culture." Waukegan as a city has been notably declining in the past few decades, with crime economic difficulties and unemployment creating a high crime rate in a city that used to be a thriving county-capital. Part of the goal of the gallery is to give Waukegan "something they can be proud of."

The gallery itself has a huge class store window that opens up onto the street, meaning a huge goal of theirs is to draw in passersby off the street. It seemed like they were trying to be very public-friendly-- most of the works were paintings and there weren't any pieces that would really controversial/confrontational. I don't mean this as a bad thing at all-- I think it's just reflects a different audience and purpose based on the location, an effort to be more accessible.

In a way, I think one of the strengths of the gallery was it's welcoming atmosphere. I feel like someone walking on the street who had never been to a gallery (like me) or even museum before could walk in and feel welcomed and comfortable. The two young women who own the gallery, Emilie Dieck-Correa and Michelle Miscenic-Patch, were extremely welcoming and friendly when I came into the gallery, greeting me at the door and answering any questions I had.

However, one of the things I found a little disorientating (and I'm sure this isn't exclusive to the Dandelion gallery) was the way the art was displayed. I'm used to going to museums and seeing art that has been put into context for me; it's historical importance or significance has been identified, and in that way the art commands a certain innate level of reverence. At a museum, if I wanted to learn more about a painting I can easily look at the description given on the side which explains the work for me; however, at a gallery all that is given is a name, date, medium, and, most disconcerting, a price. Some of the artists had a card or pamphlet-biography given, but even then with I found myself wishing I could learn more about the context of an individual work in order to better appreciate it. At the same time I had to remind myself that most of the famous works we now revere as history were once marked with a price in a gallery just as these ones now are. Overall I feel like this gallery visit gave me a more rounded appreciation of the "art world" and the business side that plays a huge part in its functioning.